How to Save a Life
by JediCharlotte
Summary: Meet Lizzy, coronary inducing engineer, bane of Leonard McCoy's life and entirely the best thing that has ever happened to him. Follow them as they embark on the adventure of a lifetime and possibly save each other in the process. Bones/OC
1. Take my hand

**Chapter 1: Take My Hand**

Christine was frantic, her hair was pulling itself from its strict bun, her eyes were wide with unrestrained panic and her hands were covered in sticky blood.

"Doctor McCoy! Doctor Mc..McCoy!" Leonard McCoy had never seen Christine so panicked. By no means was Christine Chapel a flighty woman, she had a strict demeanour that was only amplified by her bun and self presentation. She was the one thing he could count on to keep a relatively stable sickbay, what with all the green-horned cadets running around like headless chickens. But this Christine he was not used to seeing.

The panicked woman grasped the white door frame leaving bloody smudges across the painted metal. "It's Lizzy." No two words could of spurned the grumpy doctor from his paper strewn, coffee fragranced office faster than those.

Elizabeth, 'call me Lizzy', Hayes was both the bane and highlight of the sullen doctors life. She was a veritable bouncing ball of untainted kinetic energy. She quite literally bounced off things...constantly. He'd first met her through Jim Kirk, the unrepentant playboy six years his junior who he'd been saddled rooming with. All in all Kirk wasn't so bad, true nine nights out of ten he was bringing some girl back, he'd had so many that Leonard no longer kept track of their names, and was the reason why he took the graveyard shift more often than not. But Kirk was a good friend, at least he kept his mind off rather depressing things.

Lizzy had been one of Kirks discoveries. Apparently she was the room mate of the girl of the day and a whizz at engineering. Having several personal projects approved by the engineering academy board. It was with no shame either, that with her large doe eyes, long brown locks, Texan twang and short stature Kirk had set off in pursuit. But that pursuit had been cut short on the meeting with the wrong end of a plasma torch. That was the day both he and Kirk had learnt not to interrupt and engineer with a working tool in their hands. The burn had been nasty, it was a miracle he hadn't lost an eye, or a finger, or an arm.

Lizzy had dragged the injured Kirk by his foot all the way to the sickbay, rather a triumph due to their seven inch height difference. It would have been amusing to see the small woman try and bodily pull Kirk through the shutting sickbay doors, had it not been for the pitiful moaning from Kirk and the terrified look on Lizzy's face. Later, of course, he had learnt that she was less terrified for Kirk and more terrified of sickbay. But either way it was not the time for laughter.

After that he'd noticed Lizzy appearing more often in sickbay. Apparently she was somewhat of a regular customer. She was always very flighty around the doctors and more than stubborn when it came to seeking or receiving treatment. Jim had once carried her in, delusional from severe fever preventing her threats of breaking his nose and running for the hills from ever coming to fruition.

After noticing her familiar form and temperament cluttering his sickbay on regular occasions, and after having several doctors and nurses refuse to treat the stubborn and unruly engineer. McCoy had taken it on himself to deal with her. After numerous veiled threats from both parties they had come to a compromise under the stern glare of one Christine Chapel. Lizzy Hayes would go to medbay as soon as she was injured rather than exacerbating it with a prolonged stubborn delay and Leonard McCoy would be the one treating her, and that was to be that.

Over the course of the two years that they had known each other doctor and engineer became as close as any friends could be. When they weren't in their differing lectures they were found together, berating Kirk on his laxing attitude with both work and women, studying, or more oft than not at the quiet local bar that served quality whiskey and liqueurs.

So it was those two words that struck a cord of fear in McCoys hardened heart. Being notoriously accident prone, and handling dangerously unstable projects on a daily basis, Lizzy was a walking funeral waiting to happen.

In a flurry of scatter paper and spilled coffee Leonard McCoy shot from his desk with a speed he would deny ever having. Christine following closely on his heels, he burst into sickbay with the ferocity of an angered tiger. Eyes glancing round wildly they landed on a sight he'd never expected to see.

POP!

"Surprise!" Lizzy was perfectly fine, legs swinging off the edge of a biobed. Clasped between her forefinger and thumb of her left hand was a party-popper. Leonards expression went from panicked to furious as the rainbow knot of crepe paper strings tumbled down his face. But Lizzy expression remained as happy as it began. "Its your birthday as of one minute ago, happy birthday doctor." In a feat that denied the physics of nature her grin got even larger.

"How dare you...I thought...I thought...damn you women!" Leonard ran a hand through his hair, messing it from its usual appearance. Glancing at the clock he realised she was, in fact correct, it was his birthday. His snarl deepened. There was an unofficial rule that Leonard McCoy did not celebrate his birthday. At least not in the usual manner. It was the one day a year that Jim didn't bring a girl back, where Jim didn't come in their dormitory at all, least he want a glass thrown at his face.

Why? Well because his ex harpy wife had divorced him on his birthday, rubbing salt into the already festering wound of having your life and livelihood torn away from you.

So why Lizzy thought she could be the exception to that rule...

"Get out" With his fingers pinching the bridge of his nose the words came out in a whisper. With his hand in the way he didn't see the look shared between Christine and Lizzy. A look that said 'told you he would do this' and 'I'm not giving up yet'.

"Nope." Lizzy popped the 'p' like a bubble gum bubble and before he could shout a protest she bolted towards him and dragged him from sickbay, taking time to wave at the startled doctor she'd almost flattened.

Said doctor, doctor Viola Hart gave Christine a confused look with wide startled eyes. "What going on with them?" Having been coerced into taking over McCoy's graveyard shift by the ever persistent duo of Hayes and Chapel she'd expected McCoy to at least be some fraction of happy. But the man she'd just watched being dragged like a petulant toddler, was anything but.

Christine just shrugged, internally praying that Lizzy knew what she was doing.

~oOo~

Lizzy had been working, for the past few seconds, with the fact that Leonard was too stunned to protest her manhandling. But one can only keep him stunned so long. Just a few feet further...just a little further.

"Ow!" Lizzy had gone from moving to stationary in a spectacular impersonation of a terra-bound flounder. With a face full of bland grey academy carpet, Lizzy rolled over to stare a Leonard. "Leo don't be a stubborn ass okay, just trust me." She brought a hand up to touch her nose which was thumping with a blunt pain. "Plus I think my fish impression broke my nose." Smiling sheepishly she wiped away a trickle of blood.

Leonard sighed and mused his hair again. Closing his eye momentarily he tempered the reply that was biting the tip of his tongue. "Fine, but no partying, and no more surprises. If Jim jumps out of the woodwork I'll sedate the both of you."

Grinning Lizzy pushed herself to her feet and pinching the bridge of her nose to sedate the flow, bounded the few feet left to the door of the room he and Jim shared. With practiced nimble fingers she entered the code that Leonard would swear he had never told her and disappeared inside. A few seconds of hesitation and McCoy slipped in behind her.

The room was cleaner than he remembered it being that afternoon, the small table was decorated with a considerable library of whiskeys that clustered like lambs about a sapphire blue bottle. He couldn't contain the eyebrow raise. Romulan ale. Where did she get that from?

"Seeing as you're usual celebration is to drink yourself into a stupor with whatever mediocre alcohol you boys have collected, I see no reason to deviate from tradition." She sent him a smirk, still holding her nose so it was a little overshadowed but he got the picture. "But first, nose please."

Leonard let out a chuckle, her whole speech had been impeded by her firm grip on the bridge of her nose. With two quick strides he was pulling away her fingers and prodding her proboscis. "It's not broken Liz." He put in another firm prod, trying not to take her wince as revenge for his earlier heart attack. "Just bruised, broken vessels. It should stop bleeding soon." Handing her a tissue he flopped onto his bed.

With a grimace, Lizzy set about cleaning the blood from her face one handed while popping the cap on the Romulan ale. Obviously they were starting off with the small stuff. This woman was a walking wonder. Far beyond the norm for accident proneness when working with plasma torches she could easily open a bottle surrounded by a dozen others, while cleaning her face, without even a clink of glass on glass. Contradiction in human form.

Though she was making a hash of her face.

The bed dipped as Lizzy flopped down beside him with two shimmering blue glasses, gleaming of illegality. Noticing Leonards stare she spoke. "What?"

"Give me the tissue Liz, your worse than a child."

"Ffft" Swatting his hands away she pushed the glass into them.

"Happy Birthday Leo." With a clink the illegal blue was replaced with air and two satisfied sighs. Maybe this birthday wouldn't be so bad after all.

~oOo~

_The inner ramblings of a tired mind. Hope you enjoyed this, my first fanfic for Star Trek alternate reality. Based off the amount of interest expressed in the story I will continue it. _

_I really would appreciate the reviews, as this is my first story!_

_Disclaimer: All the characters but my own belong to the creators of Star Trek. I'm just borrowing them. _


	2. Whats My Age Again?

**Chapter 2: What's my age again?**

"Oh look who decided to join us!"

"Shuush!" The sound flopped out clumsy and uneven as Lizzy dropped into the plastic cafeteria seating. Her head was banging with what could only be positively the worst hang over history had ever seen and a collection of bruises decorated the bridge of her nose.

"Where's Bones?" Lizzy glared at Jim with what could only be described as pure poison as he shouted his question next to her ear.

"Carful Jim or you'll end up in sickbay with plasma burns." McCoy strode in as though he had spent the last 9 hours getting the best sleep of his life. He was carrying two black coffee's and as he sat he plonked one in front of his groggy companion.

"What did you do to her Bones." Jim prodded Lizzy with his forefinger and watched as she swayed. "She's half dead!"

The two men watched as Lizzy grasped the coffee, sniffed it and took a small sip. Grimacing slightly at the bitter taste she downed the rest in a gulp and pushed the empty cup away from her with her finger.

"I think it was the ale." Leonard McCoy glanced down at his own un-drunk coffee and with a sigh pushed that on in front of Lizzy as well. She looked like she needed it more than him anyways.

"You had Romulan ale?!"

"I said shush Kirk! Shut up!" James Tiberius Kirk looked positively chastised as Lizzy growled at him. She was cradling her new gifted coffee under her nose as though she was trying to inhale herself awake. With her hair as mused as it was she looked like an angry lion and both Jim and Leonard had now qualms that her bite was definitely going to be worse than her bark. They both shifted slightly away watching warily until her focus was back on her coffee.

"Bones haven't you got something to make her less" Kirk gestured in her direction. "that?"

"Its not my fault she can't handle her drink Jim!"

The were both levelled with an engineers glare and their voices became whispers.

"But you're the reason she's like this." Kirk made another gesture in Lizzy's direction.

"I can't just pilfer medication Jim, that's an offense."

"Well it's not like its the first of the day is it?" Jim gave McCoy an accusing look. "Romulan ale" he muttered, "where was my invite."

THUMP

Both cadets turned towards their female friend. She was slumped against the table, the now empty cup of coffee fallen on its side released the dregs of the drink onto the table. Kirk poked her and was met with a light snore. Giving McCoy a look that screamed 'see I told you she needs it' he opened his mouth to speak, "."

"Fine!" Leonard interrupted him before the words could even be formed. Only one though ran through his head 'thank god its Saturday'. He didn't even want to imagine what trouble a hung over Lizzy could get herself into when she had a hard enough time as it was.

~oOo~

Leonard McCoy was definitely not a ninja, obviously he'd have to strike that off his resume. Currently he was attempting to sneak into sickbay with Kirk jabbering into his ear through the ear piece they had borrowed. Well Leonard had borrowed, Kirk most likely had pilfered it from one of his many conquests. That train of thought left him cringing, god knows what this piece of technology had seen.

"Doctor McCoy, what are you doing?" Leonard straightened from his crouch by the medbay doors to stare into the face of the curious officer Hart.

=/\= Told you, you should of worn black. =/\=

Leonard had to stem the urge to roll his eyes at Kirk, there was nothing on this Earth or the next that would have gotten him into that ridiculous ninja outfit. Where ever Kirk had gotten the damn thing he didn't even want to know.

"I was just...I dropped something..last night when I left, I dropped something."

"Oh, not a surprise really with the way Hayes was dragging you around." The woman seemed to genuinely believe him. "Perhaps its in the office, it was a bit of a mess last night...what happened in there by the way" She gestured for him to follow her to the sickbay office and as he moved away from the direction of the sickbay, and medicine cabinet, McCoy sighed tiredly. The things he went through for his friends.

"I thought there was an emergency."

"Hummm, I surmised as much, there was blood on the door frame do you know."

'Then why the hell did you ask?!' Leonard trampled his inner thoughts and just nodded.

=/\= Oi McCoy! You're going in the wrong direction.=/\=

Kirk shouted loudly in his ear and the faint 'shut up Kirk' from Lizzy quickly followed.

~oOo~

"Lizzy put down that Kirk, you don't know where he's been." Leonard McCoy had come across one of the oddest scenes he'd had the opportunity to see.

About five minutes in to having Kirk jabber on about how he wasn't a very good ninja and hearing Lizzy shouting for Kirk to 'shut his goddamn mouth', he'd removed the ear piece. That left him with ditching Officer Hart who was treating him to a dialogue about good paperwork manners.

Eventually she'd been called away to deal with some matter or another, by that point Leonard had stopped caring and listening. That had left him back at square one hovering outside the medbay trying to come up with a plan that got him access to the unofficial hangover medication. Unofficial of course because it was reserved specifically for the faculty. Apparently cadets needed to learn about the values of studies before partying but the faculty were exempt. Figures.

Having finally decided on some semblance of a plan McCoy was stopped short by Chapel, having just finished her shift, who pressed the exact thing he was aiming to pilfer into his open palm.

"Thought you might need this, Liz gets terrible hangovers."

If he'd had any sense of cognitive function after being shocked out of his mission mind set, Leonard would have asked how the hell Christine knew that. But as it was he just stood there, mouth open like a fish before she shut it with swift fingers and stalked off down the corridor.

It was all a conspiracy, everyone was out to shock him today.

Resigned to his fate he made his way back to the corridor that he'd left his two companions in. But in that he met another problem. A crowd had seemingly gathered around the point he'd left the two at. With dread settling in the pit of his stomach, he pushed his way to the front. And that left him looking at the odd scene.

Lizzy was smacking Kirk over the head with the remains of a head set. She was brandishing in her other hand a strip of gaffer tape which she was attempting, by the look of things, to wrap around Kirks face. Kirk on the other hand was warding her off with the rankest sock Leonard had ever seen in his life. The strategy seemed to be working for him since Lizzy had yet to accomplish the task of gaffer taping Kirk.

But hearing Leonard the two stopped, frozen to the spot. Quick glares from the sullen doctor dispersed the crowd no longer enthused by the lack of violence to watch.

"He wouldn't shut up." Lizzy seemed entirely unapologetic for her actions and Leonard couldn't really blame her. There were countless times that he'd wanted to tape Kirks over active mouth shut where only strength of will tempered him. Lizzy, on the other hand, in her post drinking state seemed to have lost the will to deal with Kirk and had acted on that impulse.

"I can't even leave you two alone for ten minutes..." Leonard shook his head at them. "Liz, here." He pressed the pills into her gaffer tape free hand and she gulped them down as soon as they were in her grasp.

"Love you." Lizzy glomped in around the waist.

"Hey I convinced him to do it!"

"Go away Kirk!"

Lizzy turned and stuck her tongue out at Jim. "Nice!"

Looping her arms through both of theirs and chuckling when Jim winced at her she directed them back towards the cafeteria. "Time for bacon!"

~oOo~

As the sun dipped below the horizon the three friends were to be found sprawled on the grass of the Academy green overlooking San Francisco Bay. The dying dregs of sunlight reflected of the water in flickering shafts that danced across the cadet pocked grass.

Leonard looked over his friends of two years. They were mirroring each other, sprawled out over the grass on their stomachs, one hand bracing their heads and the others bouncing in front of them. They were gambling, playing rock, paper scissors for tonight's plans. Jim wanted to go to a nightclub and see if McCoy could pull himself a woman, where Lizzy was fighting his corner with a traditional steakhouse and bar.

Both of their faces were screwed into stern concentration. This was it, all of nothing. So far the score card stood two v two and this was the last draw.

"One, two, three...WHAT?!" Their combined voices startled a roost of birds in the tree overhead and a few other groups of cadets looked over to see what the commotion was about. Sods law had dictated that the outcome was a draw.

"Ha we have to do both!" Jim looked triumphant as he leapt into the air with a punch. His semi celebration drowned out the moans of his companions.

"It's my birthday Jim, surely I should get to decide."

"If it was up to you Bones, you'd be moping about our room with a bottle of whiskey." Jim wasn't wrong there.

Lizzy pushed herself up from the floor and tried to help pull McCoy to his feet without toppling herself. Under her breath, she mumbled "..not alone.."

"Oh cheer up you two, it will be fun!" Jim was met with two identical looks dripping with scepticism which he presently brushed aside with a wave of his hand.

The doctor and engineer shared a look. 'Might as well get it over with.'

As one the group meandered their way through the cadet decorated grass towards town.

~oOo~

Eleven minutes to midnight saw two cadets stumbling home. The third of their once trio was currently swanning about some nurses mouth where they had left him. It wasn't a pretty sight. The guard on the gate of the academy paid them no mind, he'd already seen a centuplicate stumble past and he was expected a centuplicate more as late night turned to early morning.

Guiding each other towards their destination the two were whispering quietly, but as the male cadet tried to part for his own dorm the female dragged him resolutely towards hers. Having not the energy to argue he resigned himself to doing what he was told, or physically directed as it were, to do.

They paused for a few moments at the doors, trying to remember the code and then they were in.

Lizzy giggled and was shushed by her human walking stick which only caused another onset of chiming notes.

"Why are we going to your room Liz?" She stopped dead and stared at him.

"Its still your birthday right?"

Glancing down at the watch on his wrist he nodded, but instantly regretted the action when his brain bounced off the inside of his cranium. Rubbing his head slightly he replied in a voice much louder than intended. "Yeah for another ten minutes."

"Good, come on." She dragged him down the corridor to her room, opening the door, she turned to him. "Stay." Making a motion as though talking to a dog she slipped into the dark doorway. Leonard had the urge to sit like a dog but managed to shake off the silly temptation by the time Lizzy had reappeared.

In her had was a poorly wrapped gift, there was tape sticking to her fingers and the dark matte paper was creased. With a big smile she handed it over. "Happy Birthday Leo." With a peck on the cheek she disappeared back into her room, the door sliding shut behind her.

Long fingers peeled the paper away and he was met with his own face. He was smiling and either side of him Jim and Lizzy were making faces at the camera. The frame was a deep ebony wood and sat heavily in his hand. Glancing back at the door with a ridiculously out of place smile glued to his face, Leonard McCoy surmised that this was his best birthday to date.

As he turned away from the door to make his way back home there was a muffled thump and a yelp. Then the sound of Lizzy's room mate bemoaning the loss of her beauty sleep. Shaking his head he left with a deep chuckle echoing behind him.

~oOo~

_Well hope this turned out alright for all of you interested in the story and thank you to klycmep for the review and thanks you to Black Thorns Entangled K and klycmep for the alert. Hope you both like it. _

_Written from a very windy place. _


	3. Purple Paper Pushers

**Chapter 3: Purple Paper Pushers**

"Ow. Jim stop it!" Lizzy sent a glare in the direction of Jim Kirk. For the past hour, while she'd been trying to study, he'd been throwing screwed up wrappers in her direction. Subspace field dynamics was difficult enough without having to babysit Jim Kirk.

A small piece of purple dyed wrapper bounced off her nose and landed smack bang in the middle of the book she'd been reading from. With a sigh she flicked it off with a forefinger. There was no doubt that Kirk obviously was taking classes on how to annoy the student populace. Again for the umpteenth time she wished Leonard was here to help her watch the 'child'. But Leonard had, rather deviously, secured a prolonged stint in the research lab, which meant peace and quiet. Damn him.

Another screwed up colourful ball bounced off her brow bone, this was getting ridiculous. Unable to concentrate on anything other than how many ways she could kill Kirk and convince Leonard to help hide the body, the large tomb of paper in front of her snapped shut. With heavy movements the irritated engineer lifted herself from the chair and made her way to library door, her irritating 'child' following behind with his endless sweet wrappers. Step, step, flick, step, step, flick..step, step, fli-

Spinning on her heel so fast it made her dizzy, Lizzy made to threaten Kirk with a near death experience. Which she would have done had she not been experiencing her own.

Her unnaturally fast, anger induced spin had left her entirely unbalanced. It was no help that they heavy tomb fitting snuggly into her shoulder bag had shifted her centre of gravity enough to make her its new test toy. Face passing from anger to sheer dire panic in a matter or moments, Lizzy watched her world tip in a many reminisce to her emergency flight manoeuvre exam. There was no way this was ending well for her.

In her blind panic she grasped onto the only thing close enough. The thing happened to be Kirk and Kirk was unfortunately not a secured object. Both Kirk and Hayes made like failed gymnasts. Their limbs flailing like the air dancers of the 21st century Earth. Except they didn't dance to tuneful music but two rather womanly shrieks, only one of them came from Hayes, and a cacophony of painful expletives.

Perhaps they were lucky that the flight of stairs was cut short by a corner, but you could easily bet that they'd say differently. With a painful yelp Jims arm collapsed beneath him as he pelted into the floor which propelled him into a fetal position slamming him bodily into the wall. He was luckier than Lizzy.

With an audible crack face met brick and Lizzy's forehead ricocheted off the wall with a spectacular spray of scarlet. In the last dregs of consciousness her thoughts ran on two tracks. Her nose was definitely broken this time and Leo was going to kill them both. Black spots swam in her vision and she was out before she hit the ground with a less noticeable thud.

~oOo~

Christine Chapel had been enjoying the peace an quite of an empty sickbay. A warm coffee in one had and her current novel of the month perched in the other. But trouble was only ever a hairs breath away, and in this case it came stumbling and tumbling in the form of two battered cadets.

Renowned play boy Jim Kirk was hefting, with the help of a commandeered security cadet, the prone form of Lizzy Hayes. The were followed by an ominous trail of blood and the current doctor on duty. Both Kirk and Hayes looked like they'd passed their sell by date and then remained hidden in the back corner of the cupboard for a few months further. Lizzy's head was lolling with every step her two support posts took, splattering more blood on the floor in red rosettes. That girl needed a revolving door.

Rolling up the sleeves of her nurses uniform, Christine relived Kirk of post duty sending him scampering to biobed with a stern glare. With little trouble the nurse and burly security cadet lifted Lizzy onto a biobed of her own.

With Lizzy situated on her back Christine could clearly see the damage. That nose was most definitely broken. Blood pumped out in a steady flow from the crooked feature that wouldn't look out of place of a hallows eve witch. There was a large purple welt forming on the ridge of the engineers brow bone that contrasted with the pale complexion her skin had adopted.

In a shock inducing moment, Lizzy's eyes snapped open only to blink rapidly at the lights. Her voice was quiet and wispy as though she couldn't quite catch her breath. "Hi Chris...and Chris two? I didn't know you had a twi-" She slipped back into unconsciousness, head bouncing lightly off the bed.

In the next bed over Kirk was yelping his woes in a stream of colour curses as he attempted to dodge the enquiring hands of the doctor. That arm was most definitely broken

With Lizzy flickering in and out of consciousness and Jim attempting to repel treatment like two same poles on a magnet, this was turning into a bit of a disaster.

Lizzy shifted again and let out a pained moan, weaved into her whimper was docator McCoy's name. She was asking for him.

'Indeed' thought Christine 'Where is McCoy when you need him?'

~oOo~

Leonard McCoy was quite proud of himself, quite proud indeed. All morning Jim had been pestering him like a petulant child but being unable to enter the labs he'd left for bigger and better targets. That had left him all alone in the equipment filled space. The quiet was absolute heaven.

A part of him, granted a small part only, felt bad for ditching Jim. Especially when Jims next target would most likely be their only female friend. Poor Lizzy, she was in for a hellish time with the mood Jim was in today.

The doctor sipped at the steaming coffee perched on the counter in front of him sighing as the caffeine worked its way though his system. If only sickbay could be this quiet then life would be perfect. No junior doctors trying to act the hero, no hysteric nurses breaking down every five minutes, no stubborn patients exacerbating their injuries and illnesses. Just quiet.

Of course hell would freeze over thrice before that ever happened. So much for wishful thinking.

With another contented sigh he delved deeper into the medical journal that had been resting on his knee. This was the lif-

Two junior doctors burst through the doors in mid conversation. Their loud voices chasing away the peace and quiet that had settled on the lab. 'Dammit'. The two made no hurry to quieten their discussion as they settled themselves in front of their chosen equipment.

"-I was there! There were two really loud screams and some shouting, then this horrid bang."

"Were they alright."

"I don't think anyone is going to be 'alright'" the junior doctor made quotation marks with her fingers, "when you fall down a flight of stairs."

"I heard there was blood."

"Well I didn't see them fall, but when I got there, there was blood, yeah...I think the poor girl broke her nose."

"They were lucky they didn't break their necks." They both murmured an agreement on that one.

"What happened next."

"Well the girl was out for the count, but Kirk wasn't." McCoy felt uneasiness settle in the area of his stomached. "He tried to wake up the girl, but obviously that was never going to happen. She _smacked_ her head off that wall, bless her." The smack was punctuated by the young woman's hand slapping against the counter. "He kept mumbling about how doctor McCoy was going to kill him or something." If McCoy knew Kirk, and unfortunately he did, there was only one women that would cause him to express those sort of concerns.

"What was the girls name again."

"Umm...I think its Lilly? no wait Lizzy...yeah Lizzy. She's in my brother engineering class don't you know."

Leonard didn't know, and indeed he probably never would do. Because as soon as the vowel and consonants pertaining to Lizzy's name had left the lips of the gossip giving cadet he was gone. He was in too much of a rush, with his lab coat billowing like a pale cape crusader imitation, to care that there were two very confused medical cadets left in his wake.

He stormed down the corridors like a rampaging rhino and the cadets clustering the corridors gave him the respect of one. They dodged, dived and clambered over one another to clear a path for the stampeding doctor.

Although doctor McCoy's bedside manner were somewhat of an academy legends, grossly exaggerated by traumatised patients, it wasn't that which was parting the red sea. One look at the enraged doctor was enough for anyone to have reason to move. It was that or be trampled because that man had no intention of stopping for anything.

With the fury of a tempest he burst into sickbay. And found it completely empty save for a distressed looking Chapel.

"Doctor McCoy... I tried to stop them but you know what they are like with treatme-"

He didn't wait for her to finish, instead he whirled like a matador dodging a bull and resumed his vicious pace down the hall. They couldn't have got far, Chapel would have come got him before they had been gone too long.

His large strides ate up the hall way and as he turned the corner, he caught a glimpse of brown. 'Got you!' His inner voice screamed triumph as he caught up with the two escapees.

Lizzy was leaning against Kirk like he was the only think keeping her upright and Kirk was attempting to do that with the use of one arm.

"What the hell do you two think you're doing!?" An angry shout laced the corridor and cadets scarpered like mice to their respective destinations leaving the two escapees to their, no doubt deserved, fate.

Lizzy wobbled as she tried to stand and, through the pain medication, pointed to Kirk. "His idea." She slurred before collapsing into McCoy's body. Steady hands caught her as their own glared death promises at the blamed.

With a stern frown Leonard pointed back in the direction of sickbay. "March." His voice left no room for argument and like a chastised child Jim did as he was told. Lifting a slightly delusional Lizzy into his arms, Leonard followed close behind. The stern frown stayed on the surly doctors face as a reminder of the dangerous ledge Jim Kirk was walking on should he turn to look back.

When the doctor and the two escapees, well one escapee and one engineer who'd been too out of it to realise she was escaping, returned Christine had never been so relieved. There was a high probability that McCoy would have killed them both, in fact she was now owed a tube of Ben and Jerry's finest from a junior nurse.

Leonard laid Lizzy on the nearest vacant biobed and turned to Jim, gesturing to another. "Sit." Once again left with no argument Kirk sat feeling rather like a naughty puppy. "What they heel do you think you're playing at Kirk! You could have concussion and she " he gestured towards Lizzy "most certainly has. Do you know what to do for a concussion, have you suddenly become a doctor to discharge other patients? ..." Leonard waited, leaving the words to sink in and not expecting an answer. "No."

Jim Kirk wasn't an idiot, but there was many an occasion when he did idiotic things. As Lizzy would often remark, he'd been dropped head first off a cliff one too many times as a child.

As fate would have it Lizzy had drifted into a light sleep, he'd have to wait to chastise her.

~oOo~

Three minutes into waking up several things had occurred very quickly for Lizzy. First a blinding headache that most definitely beat the hangover from last Saturday. Secondly some jumped up junior had tried to stab her with a hypo. Thirdly she was given a stern talking to via doctor McCoy. And finally she was still saddled with Kirk except this time there was no escape. She was stuck in sickbay under the watchful hawk eyes of one doctor McCoy in a bed next to Kirk...hell.

In an attempt to distract herself from the dire situation she had woken up in, she was doing the studying she had planned before the morning had gone all pear shaped.

FLICK

The purple piece of rolled up paper bounced off her nose and dropped into the middle of her textbook, ridiculously reminiscent of events hours earlier. The growl could be heard from out in the corridor.

"For Gods sake Kirk, grow up!"

~oOo~

_Thanks to all the faves and follows. I really enjoyed writing this chapter, and the bacon sandwich I ate while writing it, hope you all enjoy it too. Have at it readers!_


	4. Lets go be Ninjas

**Chapter 4: Lets go be Ninjas**

Leonard was two steps away from exhausted. It was exam season and he'd just experience a right cracker. Who in their right mind would want to preform artificial heart surgery for their exam, who in their right mind would let a cadet preform artificial heart surgery for an exam. It was ridiculous, not that it wasn't successful, but now he was drained and wandering aimlessly to an open piece of grass to collapse on.

"Leo..." The voice sounded far away, muffled like when he tried to smother Jim with a pillow.

"Leo..." The sound was drawn out like in a dream.

"OI LEO!"

"Jesus woman, what do you mean by shouting in my damn ear?!" A few heads had turned towards the familiar sight of doctor and engineer, watching curiously.

"I brought you coffee, ummm technically I brought you two." The angel before him smiled brilliantly as she offered the sweet nectar of life.

"I love you." Grasping hands reached for the Styrofoam mug as though it was precious gold. Brown eyes refused to leave the divine gift as though it might be a mirage.

In a swift, and surprisingly flawless, motion the cup was pressed firmly into his hands by the angle of mercy. "For god sake drink it, you're taking too long."

Three long gulps and the cup was empty with another replacing its self in his hands, he could get used to this, maybe he could keep this engineer.

Now at least some semblance of awake he looked over his friend through eyes unmarred by a wearisome brain. She was covered in smudges, and was that a scorch mark? In hindsight he should never really be surprised in what condition Lizzy appeared when he saw her, she was always getting herself into some sort of trouble or situation. He was going to go grey by 30 at this rate.

"How was the...exam?" Lizzy had tapered off near the end due to the death glare, copyright Leonard, directed straight at her face. Her hand came up and prodded her cheek just to make sure her head was still attached. "That bad huh?" She chuckled as the glare modified into the McCoy brow. "Okay, okay I wont ask." Sticking her tongue of at him she dived into her messenger bag and pulled out a modified laser scalpel.

"Tahdah!"

"Liz, what did you do to that?" The tool look familiar and et it just didn't. It was slimmer with a curved end grip and though you could hook in round your finger, which she did, swinging a full loop that made his heart stop and teeth grit before it landed back in her palm.

"I modified it, I adjusted the wave function to account for turbulent changes so it can be used in battle situations when being steady handed is difficult." Her face split apart with her grin. "Plus the grip is easier too and your less likely to drop it...well people like me are less likely to drop it."

"No one would let someone as clumsy as you free on people." She huffed at him.

"Well its a good thing I don't like people then." She mimed snubbing him. Crossing her arms and lifting her chin, tilting her face away from him. Lucky as ever her messenger bag clanged against her thigh causing her world to tilt slightly as up was quickly becoming down. Firm hands saved her almost with the cost of his second gifted coffee, but Leonard McCoy was a doctor with a pair of the steadiest hands in Starfleet.

"Be careful Liz." She just brushed him off with a wave of her hand and he couldn't help the roll of his eyes that answered, women, Lizzy-

"OOFF." Two things happened simultaneously as Jim Kirk barrelled into his two friends. Lizzy was launched back on her floor bound trajectory but most importantly his coffee was on the flight path to join her. Damn. The, not unexpected, result was a disgruntled coffee covered Liz sprawled on the floor like a two year old toddler. An unhappy toddler by the look of things.

"You really should be more careful Lizzy, you'll hurt yourself again." By the look on her face, it wasn't her that was going to be hurt, but Kirk was oblivious as a smile stretched across his cherub like face.

"Why are you so happy?"

Jim looked at Lizzy and smirked "I don't know what you're talking about."

Leonard raised his brow at Jim with a look of disdain, as he proffered a hand to Lizzy. "No I don't suppose you do."

"I'm taking the test again." Jim clapped both Leonard and the newly upright Lizzy on the shoulder causing them to stumble into each other, well Lizzy stumbled into Leonard.

They gaped like terra bound fish gasping for air. "You've got to be kidding me." Their combined voices made a two tone of indignation. What was Kirk thinking?!

"Yeah, tomorrow morning and I want you there, both of you." He smirked at both of their shocked faces.

"You know I've got better things to do than watch you embarrass yourself a third time" Lizzy mumbled staring at Jim with a furrowed brow.

"Really because I watch you embarrass yourself all the time." Lizzy tried not to look hurt at Jims reply.

"I' a doctor Jim, I'm busy." Leonard shifted closer to Lizzy as he eyed the tension building between his two friends.

"But doesn't it bother you that no one's ever passed the test?" Jim refocused on Leonard which left Lizzy a moment to stop gritting her teeth at Jims comment.

"Jim its the Kobyashi Maru, no one passes the test and no one goes back fro seconds let alone thirds!" Kirk was having none of it though and brushed aside Bones comment with a cheeky smile.

"I have to go study."

"Study my ass."

"Love to Lizzy but I've got something firmer in mind." Kirk waltzed off in the direction of the dorms without a second glance.

"Jim Kirk you're a jerk."

Doctor and Engineer watched as their friend waltzed off to bother a gaggle of nursing students.

"Don't listen to him Liz, your butt is fine..."

"Been looking have you Leo?" Lizzy chuckled as she gave him a small shove. "Come on doc, lets go get some food."

~oOo~

Lizzy was running on the dregs of stolen coffee, wrapped in a pilfered jacket that smelt suspiciously of alcohol and cigars. Considering the jacket was Jims and, although alcohol was very common with him, he didn't smoke cigars she could only imagine the woman he must of brought home with him in this...then again probably best not to. Her fingers shook and her breath fogged in front of her as the incandescent glare of hot metal bounced off her welders goggles. Fingers twitching with the discomfort of a prolonged position and the flashing numbers that indicated sleep should of been welcome about and hour ago she set her tools down.

It was a common occurrence for Elizabeth Hayes, prospect engineer and resident walking band aid, to be so caught up in her final project that she stayed late into the night. And she wasn't the only one. Jonas was another prospect engineering cadet, huddled half asleep in a corner perusing some blue prints and Abigail was leaning against the coffee cupboard, distinguished by the large splash-like stain, with a cup balanced precariously on a pile of haphazard books. In the large hanger-like space it was a normal thing for the late nighters, or finger-riskers as some others liked to call them, to acknowledge each other with the universal greeting of coffee. But the coffee was running low and with eyelids drooping Lizzy was calling it a night.

She shirked the gloves, catapulting them onto a workbench with a clang that fell on death ears. "Night" The replies were barely mumbled sleep talk and hardly distinguishable from the broken rumble of a generator but she waved her way out the door none-the-less.

"Finally!"

Now Lizzy wasn't normally the type to scream. She was more of a punch or fall over like a deer on ice type of girl. But with the late nights taking their toll, the screech that tore through the air was enough to make dorm lights turn on and the security guard perk up from the late-night TV show he'd been streaming. It didn't help that her attacker hand a hand over her mouth that smelt of dirt and strong liquor.

Lizzy did the only thing she could think of.

"Ewww?! If licking your attacker is your only defence idea then remind me to never taking on an away mission when I'm captain."

Turning Lizzy watched as Jim Kirk wiped his hand against his trousers with a disgusted look on his face. Crossing her arms over her chest in a attempt to calm her racing heart and keep the cold out she glared darkly.

"What do you want Jim?"

"I need your hel-"

"No."

Jim Kirk stared, surprised at the interruption, with his mouth half open like he was a bear catching salmon.

"What do you mean no, I haven't even asked you yet!"

"I mean no, I will not go through with whatever potentially career ruining scheme your twisted mind has concocted." Her arms crossed tighter and she let out a little huff of air that push aside the strand of hair dangling in her eyes.

"Well that's hardly fair."

Lizzy began walking towards the dorms and Jim followed diligently behind, spluttering about the injustice of it all and how he'd never done anything to instil such distrust. They made quite a pair with Jims incessant ranting and Lizzy's dynamic facial expressions of exasperation.

"I'll buy you coffee!" His exclamation was loud and it stopped Lizzy dead in her tracks.

"You said what?"

"I'll buy you all the coffee you could ever want, ever. I'll even give you a coffee salary!"

Lizzy stopped dead, pivoting to face Kirk with more balance than she'd ever displayed in her life. "All the coffee I could ever...want...speak."

"I need a program...I need to beat the Kobyashi Maru." His face was deadly serious which tempered Lizzy's immediate question.

"Why Jim, Why do you need to beat it so bad? Do you even know what your asking of me?!"

"I know Liz, I know what I'm asking but you don't get it. I have to beat it. I have to prove I'm better than him...I have to prove that I can do it, that I deserve to be a captain." He huffed in the air sending water vapour swirling on the invisible currents. "You wouldn't understand."

"Wouldn't I Kirk, you think your the only one that feels like they need to prove themselves? Are you that self centred?"

"Liz...look I'm sorry for being a jerk, but please, please do this for me. I'm begging you. Its not fair that every cadet enters that room knowing that they are going to fail before they've even begun. They are laughing at us!" Kirk was pacing back and forth in front of her like an angry tiger.

"I don't think its quite like-"

"You've been in it, you know how it feels. EVERYONE fails and its not fair. That test is a cheat, so why can't we play the game their way. I'll take the fall, if anything at least I'll go out with a bang right?" He let out an empty bark of laughter and Lizzy knew she'd just signed across the dotted line that would ruin her career.

"You realise I'll have to write a program on the fly, not to mention we have to break into Starfleet and I will not be flashing the guards as a distractions...its too cold."

Strong arms swept her into a hug that suffocated her, crushing with its emotional relief. "Liz I owe you, your the best."

"Yeah Kirk you owe me big, now lets go be ninjas."

~oOo~

_Right well big apologies for not updating sooner but I've been having absolutely massive internet issues in my flat. Home for the holidays so I'll try posting some chapters before I go back, hopefully the internet will be fixed by then. I had a lot of trouble with this chapter, couldn't quite figure out how to write it but I think it turned out okay. At least I hope you like it. You've kept me going with all your interest so thank you so much for that and if I don't manage another post before Christmas, I wish you all a Merry Christmas and happy holidays! :D_


	5. Reckless

**Chapter 5: Reckless **

THUMP

Lizzy collapsed into the chair Leo had plonked her in, her head slumped against the control panel of the simulation console. She gave him a tired look as he shook his head at her before slipping into the seat next to her.

"You know, it serves you right for spending all night working on that project of yours."

"I wasn't even working- I mean yeah, the project right." She stifled a yawn as the rest of the 'crew' filtered into the room. Jim Kirk was not among them. Test or not, it was no surprise that Jim was late. During the previous night and early hours of the same morning she was now stumbling tiredly through Jim and Lizzy had been breaking in. With the promise of coffee for life hanging on the air, Liz had done the unthinkable. She'd broken into Starfleet. The storm cloud of trouble that was hovering over her head made her want to make like a fox on a fox hunt. But that wasn't it though. Oh no, she'd also reprogrammed the unbeatable test with Jim as her lookout...it was a wonder they hadn't been caught. Well come to think about it...

"Morning minions!" Kirk waltzed into the room as though he owned it and the facility it came in. Glares rained down on all sides but he brushed them off like imaginary lint before he fell back into the Captains chair. Lizzy gave him a tired and disgruntled look that screamed 'you so owe me' and he replied with a not so subtle wink that left Leonard looking suspiciously between the two.

Kirk, completely oblivious to Leo's suspicion was twirling round in his 'captains' chair, excitedly bouncing in his seat for the show that was about to come. The polar opposite of his partner in crime...or rather the actual perpetrator of the crime he came up with. She was squirming on the inside, guts tying themselves into knots and she tried to stay as inconspicuous as possible. It was well known that Lizzy was a terrible liar, absolutely dismal. This coupled with the fact she was sitting next to lie detector central kept her head securely against the console display as she hid her face from the rooms occupants.

"Cadets, you may now begin." All bar Kirk straightened as the simulation started.

The first to speak was Uhura, the exotic woman who Lizzy had only met a handful of times. She swivelled round from her console and in a voice that clearly asked 'what the hell am I doing here again Kirk?' she spoke her part with not even a ounce of sarcasm. "We are receiving a distress signal from the USS Kobayashi Maru, the ship has lost power and is stranded. Starfleet Command has ordered us to rescue them."

"Starfleet Command has ordered us to rescue them ... Captain." Eyes rolled all round as Kirk displayed his usual arrogance.

No one batted an eyelash as the alert tone filled the room with the accompanying red flash. "Two Klingon vessels have entered the neutral zone and are locking weapons on us." Like two dancers Lizzy's and Leo's fingers moved across the panels in front of them with eerie synchronisation. Everyone in the room had been here before, they all knew what to expect and they all knew the exact protocol. Klingons attack, the Maru destroyed and then it went either one of two ways. The captain panics or holds his own. He might take out a Klingon but the result was always the same, they died. Captain and crew, they always, always died. Which is why everyone but Lizzy started at Kirks reply.

"That's okay." His nonchalance struck chords inside of McCoy and Lizzy could tell they weren't the chords that came with an accompaniment of angelicly voice choir boys.

"That's okay?!" Disbelief and some disgust coloured the doctors tone. Even in face of something that he knew was a simulation Leo couldn't condone the needless loss of innocent life. It was against his very nature, so that fact the Kirk had on a devil may care attitude was grating on him.

"Yeah don't worry about it." As always Kirk was completely blind to Leonards tone. Lizzy spared him a glance and sighed at his smug smirk. She agreed it was about time the test was beat but he could be a bit less obvious. He was making a blatant moon in the face of the examiners behind the one-way glass, they were so getting in trouble for this.

"More Klingon Warbirds decloaking and targeting our ship..." Leonard paused with a sigh, already predicting how Jim was gong to answer his question. "...I don't suppose this is a problem either?"

"Their firing Captain."

Lizzy gave Kirk a sharp look, she'd told him last night of the plan. She needed a distraction, something to cover up the keystrokes she was going to make in a matter of moments. A part of her wished she had cornered him into telling her what he had planned.

"Alert medical bay to receive all crew members from the damaged ship."

Uhura asked the obvious question with not even a teaspoon of attitude. "And how do you expect us to rescue them when we're surrounded by Klingons, Captain?" Lizzy could almost here the murmur of agreement throughout the room.

"Alert medical."

"Our ships being hit. Ships at shields at sixty percent." Leo and Lizzy worked in tandem as they pulled up ship data on the consoles. But the distraction of the simulation didn't stop her from shifting under the glances of the man sitting next to her. She was being too quite, too clam under the face of Kirks blatant disregard from protocol and common sense, she was making Leo more suspicious by the second.

"I understand." Kirk was making it almost impossibly hard not to face palm. She wanted to scream at him to stop being so bloody obvious but that on its own would be a dead give away so she kept quite and brought up her internal keypad. She was taking a big risk doing it this way but the more obvious it was the less likely they would be able to find it. She wasn't a fool she knew that watching from behind the mirrored glass like a vulture at a carcass, which would probably be her in a few hours, was a Vulcan. She knew a Vulcan program when she saw one, and the Kobyashi was definitely, one hundred percent Vulcanised. It made a lot of sense when you thought about it really, but that wasn't the point. Being a Vulcan he'd go straight to the logical weak points and in any other circumstances so would Lizzy. But last night, as soon as she seen Vulcan painted in big bold letters in the code she'd changed tactics. She went illogical, the strongest chink of armour in his program, that was and had been her target. Now all she had to do was let her little worm burrow through it and she was in. A few key strokes that would look like nothing more than an overly panic cadet, something this room was more than used to seeing, and she'd have sealed her fate.

_*Now would be a great time for a distraction Kirk.*_

She caught Leonards incredulous look before they both spun to stare at Kirk. "Should we...I don't know. Fire back?!" Kirk stared at them both as if contemplating something before shrugging and pulling out two apples. She watched him take a large chunk out of one before she swivelled back to the console.

"Hummm no, breakfast Liz." She hardly registered her name before the apple thudded against her shoulder blade. Her fingers that had been hovering over the keypad pressed down on the collection of keys that let her little worm burrow. She turned to glare at Kirk as she screens flickered and the lights died leaving them all floundering in a blue glow. Breaking her glare with Kirk left her ensnared by the ever suspicious gaze of Leonard. She was certain beyond a doubt that he hadn't seen her press the keys but he'd been around them both too long not to know when they were up to something. Dark eyes captured her own and she could do nothing but let him read her as his suspicion affirmed itself. Boy was she in trouble.

Before he could say or do anything that would reveal their cheat the lights and consoles flickered into life. The alert was still blaring but the irritating tone faded to the background as Lizzy let her eyes meet with Jim. Now or never, she gave him an imperceptible nod. "Humm, arm photons, prepare to fire on the Klingon Warbirds."

There were incredulous glances all round but the command was diligently followed. "Yes Sir."

Leonard swivelled. "Jim their shields are still up."

"Are they." Internally she knew Kirk was chuckling and by the looks of the barely concealed smirk it wasn't far off becoming an external chuckle. He was enjoying confusing Leo too much.

"...no..they're not?" Leonard said while shooting Lizzy a disbelieving look.

"Fire on all enemy ships. One photon each should do it, lets not waste ammunition."

"Targets locked on enemy ships, firing." Lizzy gleefully set about destroying the make believe Klingons. In her peripheral she noted Kirk mimicking shooting the Klingons and she had to stifle a giggle at his antics. "All ships destroyed Captain." The relief on her voice was palatable.

"Begin rescue of the stranded crew." Kirk bounced up from his chair. "So we have managed to eliminate all enemy ships, no one on board was injured and the successful rescue of the Kobayashi Maru crew is underway." He walked forward slapping both her and Bones on the back. Expecting it this time her fingers were splayed to type in the wipe code. No one would ever be able to find the cheat.

As one, all three of them turned to face the mirrored glass. It was no leap to imagine the shocked and confused faces that were staring back at them.

A shaky voice came over the conn. "Cadet James T. Kirk, congratulations, you may all..." there was a pause where the mumble of hushed but passionate arguing could be heard. "...you may all leave. Dismissed."

~oOo~

Cadets thronged towards the amphitheatre, chatter and gossip passing through them like a virus. But three were suspiciously silent. Lizzy felt as through she was under a spotlight and not the kind that meant you were about to give an epic speech. It was more of the helicopter spotlight that was focused on criminals in those antique cop shows Kirk liked to watch. It was not a good feeling. She and her partner in crime, Jim, flanked their furious friend. Both their heads hung like scolded puppies and if they had the ears to match they would be drawn back apologetically.

The shouting match that had ensued in the first vacant medbay available was more like a volcanic eruption, and just like the people of Pompeii they hadn't seen the danger till it was right on top of them. Physically Kirk had come of the worse for it, his new shiner a colourful memento. But she'd taken the brunt of the mental barrage. For some reason, entirely unfathomable in her view, punching Jim had been enough retribution for the stupid plan he'd concocted. But for her, because Leo refused to hit a woman, the metal take down was the route to go. Lucky Kirk had been excused, or rather shouted from the room of unfair punishment, as Lizzy like to refer to it. That left her alone with the devil himself.

He'd been disappointed in her stupidity for even agreeing to the plan. He'd actually questioned her intelligence, but she could brush that aside. But when he questioned her friendship to him, that was too far. In the end they'd both screamed at each other and stormed from the room, their anger almost palatable in the heated air around them. The only reason she was even walking with them was Jim, something about representing a unified front. As to why they, and the rest of the academy, had been called to an emergency board meeting 3hours after the Kobyashi Maru test was obvious. They had been caught.

Frantically Lizzy was running though her program, looking desperately for any weaknesses, any mistakes that could have been spotted. She couldn't find any and it was driving her insane.

They entered the amphitheatre and instantly her eyes made contact with the others that had been in the test with them that morning. It seemed that the board and Leonard weren't the only suspicious ones. Morosely she followed her two companions, Jim sitting between her and the still fuming Leonard. This was it, her career was at an end before it had begun, but a part of her still remained proud for Jim's sake.

As the cadets settled into anxious silence the board members entered the room. She watched them, following their every move as they shuffled their papers and let their eyes sweep over the gathered audience.

"Jame's T. Kirk. Step forward." Before Lizzy could stand Jims hand pushed he down into her seat.

"I promised remember." Without another word he made his way towards the front.

Leonards, having not seen the exchange between the two, turned to glare at her. She could only imagine what he must be thinking, letting Jim take the wrap like the selfish child Leo had accused her of being. Stealing herself she stared resolutely at Jim.

"Cadet Kirk, evidence has been submitted to this council suggesting you violated the ethical code of conduct pursuant to regulation 17.43 of the Starfleet code. Is there anything you care to say before we begin?" There was a collective intake of breath from the audience.

"Yes Sir. I believe I have the right to face my accuser directly." Lizzy just knew who would step forwards.

"Step forward please. This is Commander Spock, one of or most distinguished graduates. He's programmed the Kobayashi Maru test for the last four years." Now all eyes focused on the Vulcan as he approached the front, Lizzy's stayed watching Kirk.

"Cadet Kirk. It is obvious you somehow managed to install and activate a subroutine in the programming code..." Lizzy let out the breath she'd been holding, they couldn't find it. A part of her swelled with pride as she'd obviously outfoxed the Vulcan while another deflated as Kirk twitched at the podium. "...thereby changing the conditions of the test."

"Your point being?"

"In academic vernacular, you cheated." Some of the gathered hissed in distaste.

"Now let me ask you something I think we all know the answer to: the test is rigged, isn't it? You programmed it to be unwinnable. The test itself is a cheat." There was a smattering murmur of agreement that was hushed by glares from the academy board.

"Your argument precludes the possibility of a no-win scenario-"

"I don't believe in no-win scenarios-"

Their voices started to raise as they tried to compete with each others arguments.

"Then not only have you violated the rules, you've failed to understand the principal lesson."

"Please, enlighten me."

"You, of all people should know, cadet Kirk. A captain cannot cheat death." Her eyes widened, Jim would not like that, hell she didn't. She could see exactly where it was headed and her hatred for the Vulcan started to solidify.

"I of all people?" Everyone could hear the lack of personality in the question. For a moment the animosity that had been seething between her and Leonard slipped as they shared a concerned glance for their friend.

"Your father, Lieutenant George Kirk, had assumed command of his vessel before killed in action, did he not?" Lizzy watched with sad eyes as Jim physically recoiled as though he'd been hit. It was painful to watch.

"Maybe you just don't like that I beat your test." The words were dry, devoid of the usual cockiness that made Jim Kirk...well Jim Kirk.

The Vulcan Spock continued as though he hadn't heard Jim speak. "Furthermore, you have failed to divine the purpose of the test."

"Enlighten me again." Lizzy let her head fall into her hands, he was digging his own grave. She was oblivious to the struggle warring two seats to her right.

Leonard was warring with himself. He was furious with her, not only had Lizzy stupidly encouraged Kirk and put herself and him into danger with her actions and also lied to him but she'd let Jim take all the wrap. But a part of him, the part that had been confusing him where ever she was around wanted to comfort her as she worried fro Jim. Shaking himself from his thoughts, he drew back the hand that had been traversing the distance between them and turned back to listen to the Vulcans reply.

"The purpose is to experience fear. Fear in the face of certain death. To accept that fear and maintain command of one's self and one's crew. This is a quality expected in every Starfleet captain."

Everyone was startled out of watching the argument taking place by a redshirt bursting through the side doors of the hall.

There was a startled cough and then the Head of the board spoke, his voice ringing out through the hall.

"We've received a distress call from Vulcan." He let the resultant din settled before he refocused on Kirk. "Cadet Kirk, you are on academic probation pending the result of your hearing. Cadets, report to Shuttle hanger One immediately. This hearing is at recess until further notice. Dismissed."

~oOo~

**So another chapter that's been a challenge. Anyway, I have exams soon so it may be a few weeks before another update but soon I'll be getting into the action part of this story. Something I hope we are both looking forward to. :D**

**Also thank you for all the reviews the encouragement has been awesome and helped me finish the chapter! **


	6. A Love Like War

**Chapter 6: A Love Like War**

Chaos, seconds after the announcement there was chaos. Worried gasps travelled through the crowd like a Mexican wave, cadets turning to glance at each other with equally worried and excited faces. Lizzy and Leonard were the only two in their row to remain in a deadly calm. It was obvious enough to Lizzy that Leo was still going over the past few minutes proceedings in his head while she was begging him not to hate her in her mind. She daren't look at him, instead she kept an eye out for Jim.

"Come on." His voice was gruff and his grip was unforgiving so much so that it bordered on painful. She felt as her body shuddered into a flinch but he remained impassive. "Jim."

Jim gave her a glance, but it lasted moments before she was dragged out into the corridor along side him. Leonard didn't let up his grip until they entered the Shuttle bay.

"You alright Jim?"

"Ye-" He didn't let him finish before he turned his furious eyes on her.

"How could you let him go through that?! What kind of friend are you? Do you even care at all?" A few passing cadets flinched away from the doctor as they passed, many were aware of his temperamental nature and they scuttled towards their commanders like startled deer.

"Of course I-"

"Don't lie to me!" The roar sent her flinching unwillingly into herself. "You knew what would happen. YOU knew that this would happen! Your so selfish!"

"Leo I-"

"Don't even bother. If this is how you treat your friends..." Lizzy could easily hear the unspoken words. They were clear, as sharp as the scalpels he handled on a daily basis.

"I-I'm sorry." Before he could lay into her again, imply that she wasn't good enough for the friendship that had been bestowed on her she turned a fled towards her commander.

Bitterly she bit the inside of her cheek, she wouldn't cry over it, she wouldn't cry over a misunderstanding. She'd let him cool off then maybe she could explain, maybe then he would listen. Part of her was hurt by Kirk not helping her, not pleading her case, explaining things. But another understood that he'd just had his own dressing down, in front of the academy board and all his peers no less, she couldn't begrudge him his silence.

Wrapping her arms around her to remind herself it wasn't a physical hurt that was coursing through her body she joined the gathering group of engineering cadets. All across the hanger commanders were shouting out names and the ships they were stationed on. Lizzy hardly paid attention, the more she thought about the angrier she was getting. Okay fair enough she could see what it looked like but what gave him the right. How dare he assume that she planned for it, that this was the outcome she wanted. He wouldn't even hear her out. Her or Jim. Either of them could have explained. He wouldn't even listen to her side of the story. How dare-

"Hayes, USS Enterprise...Sheppard, USS Kelvin..."

She was on the Enterprise...the actual Enterprise...the flagship of the fleet. Excitement flushed the anger from her system. She couldn't believe it, well that wasn't quite true. Lizzy was top in her entire class, in reality she was a cert for the Enterprise but thinking it and knowing it was different than living it. Her eyes strayed to the roof of the hanger. Somewhere out there, somewhere in orbit the USS Enterprise was waiting for her new engineers. Her fingers twitched in anticipation.

A hard clap on her back that sent her stumbling a half pace forward broke her out of her imaginings.

"Cadet Hayes, your with me." Her eyes landed on a stocky man, his stern face was unforgiving and his greying military regulation hair cut coupled with his pristine uniform screamed no nonsense.

"Sir?"

"Stop gawping cadet, you're my new Assistant. Now display some intelligence and get moving!" Lizzy couldn't contain her shock, it painted her face with widened eyes and a slacked mouth. She was Assistant Chief of the Enterprise.

~oOo~

Leonard was furious, he knew he wasn't thinking straight, thinking logically but goddamn it he wasn't a Vulcan machine. She had wronged him, she wronged them both. They were meant to be friends and yet she had lied about what she'd done, she was meant to be Jims friends and yet she'd let him take the wrap for something she'd done. He couldn't see how she could even find any justification in her actions and he certainly didn't want to hear some half arsed excuse.

"McCoy...McCoy."

"What Jim?"

"Its not her fault."

"Jim..." He brushed his hair back with his hand in frustration, the anger bleeding from him as he watched Lizzy encircle herself within her own arms from afar."...I don't care."

_'Now who's lying?'_

He shook his head, he didn't have time to deal with this now. "Come on." Tearing his eyes away from the engineer he headed towards a commander who was shouting out orders.

"McCoy, USS Enterprise...Shears, USS Kelvin...Parker, USS Missouri... You have your orders, move!"

Leonard felt Jim stiffen beside him before launching towards the commander muttering. "He didn't call my name, he didn't call my name."

"Sir, you didn't call my name. Kirk, James T."

The commanders didn't even look at Jim before replying. "Kirk, you're on academic suspension until the academy board rules." Done with the conversation the commander moved off towards a group of gathering officers.

Leonard watched the disappointment cloud Jims eyes. "The board will rule in your favour Jim...most likely."

"It's-it's okay, go on...good luck." Taking three steps in the direction of the shuttles, Leonard couldn't remove the despondent looking Jim from his eyes.

"Aww hell, come with me." Now he was breaking the rules, putting his career in jeopardy. This was getting ridiculous. With quick steps he made his way to the hanger medical bay, dragging a confused Kirk behind him. Pushing him down onto the medical gurney he turned towards the cabinet, good thing he always had his keys on him. His fingers brushed over the bottles, he needed something that would make Kirk appear ill. Of course he could have him act but knowing Jim he'd play the dramatic and they would be outed in seconds. So something genuine then. Something that wouldn't do any harm, a vaccination. He clasped his digits around the chosen bottle. Practiced hands grabbed the Hypo and prepped it.

"What-what are you doing?"

"Doing you a favour. I couldn't just leave you there looking all pitiful, especially since its not your fault." He let the inflection on the 'your' speak for itself. "I'm going to give you a vaccine against viral infection from Melvaran Mud Fleas."

Acting quickly he injected the vaccine, Jim was just like lizz-

"OW! What the hell was that for?" Kirks exclamation brought him back from his musings.

"To give you the symptoms..." Putting the Hypo down he continued "...you're going to loose vision in your left eye..."

"Yeah I already have." Leonard watched as Jim tried to stand, collapsing into the side of the bed for support. He rolled his eyes.

"...you're going to get a really bad headache and a flop sweat."

"You call this a favour?!" Jim had no idea how much he was risking doing this.

"Yeah, you owe me."

Cadets were staring to load onto the shuttles so with seconds to waste he grasped Jims arm dragging him towards one of the Enterprise shuttles. The fact that he was a doctor assigned to the Enterprise hadn't really hit him yet. It was expected, as tope of his class, but still it was all together a bit different living out the dream.

~oOo~

Lizzy was attempting to mimic an academic sponge. She was sat next to the Chief Engineer of the Enterprise being bombarded with information with the military precision of a photon torpedo. She'd learnt a few things about her new Chief in the process. He was very much the military man that his presentation indicated. Drafted from Starfleet intelligence to care for the flagship of the fleet. No nonsense. Regulation specific. Her brain was going haywire trying to keep up and process the information being thrown at her. Specifics, rules, orders, blueprints. He was going too fast to keep up and wasn't stopping. In all the excitement and chaos she'd forgotten the argument that had occurred only minutes earlier with her best friend. But a voice brought it all back to the forefront blocking out her senior officer.

"-Medical code states the treatment and transport of a patient is to be determined at the discretion of his attending physician, which is me. Or would you like to explain to Captain Pike why the Enterprise warped into a crisis without one of its attending medical officers?" Having been with Leonard and Jim minutes earlier Lizzy's brows quirked together in an expression of confusion. Jim hadn't been ill, and even with his record a few minutes wasn't enough to put him in need of a doctor, unless it was a mental one.

"...as you were."

Lizzy pushed herself deeper in her seat. Sure she was angry at McCoy but she didn't want to face him just yet.

"As you wer-"

"Cadet Hayes, I expect you to follows those rules to the letter." She blinked herself back and tried to remember what she'd just been told. She couldn't recall one rule that had been spoken at her but she nodded and replied all the same.

"Yes Sir."

"You are to gather the cadets for orders on arrival."

"Sir."

With a nod Chief Reynards clipped himself in and she followed suit. With no more to discuss she attempted to seek out Jim and Leonard from her position. Having been one of the first to seat themselves on the shuttled they were at the back, and with her short stature she couldn't see past the two seats in front of her. Sighing she stared down into her lap.

Ever since the simulations emotions had been running high. Even before that she had felt the tension building between her and Leonard. She'd brushed it aside as nothing but now she wasn't exactly so sure. He'd blow up at her over the smallest things, she'd gotten a bruise when she'd tried to climb a book case and fell, he'd given her a 20 minute lecture. She'd banged her head on an open cupboard and he'd shouted at her about concussions. She'd smiled at one of her fellow cadets who was a known playboy and he'd questioned her on wanting to end up like one of Kirks clingy conquests. It was getting ridiculous. And now they were stationed on the same ship. Of course she knew they probably would be, only the best made it onto the Enterprise and they were both the best in their respective fields, so it was an expected outcome. One that would have had her smiling for days had it not been for their current emotional situation. Now it just left a sickly feeling in the depths of her stomach. Her only relief, her only reprieve was that they would be stationed in different areas of the ship. In theory they should never have to see each other, and as long as she didn't injure herself in a spectacular manner then theory would become reality. She huffed, her not injure herself, who was she kidding, this mission was going to get awkward for sure.

There was a collection of hushed gasps echoing through the shuttle, and looking up Lizzy could see why. During her thoughts they had left the Earths atmosphere and were approaching the docking station. There waiting for them in all her beauty was the USS Enterprise. And beautiful she was. Lizzy's eyes caressed her form, the feeling of seeing her almost indescribable. It was akin to seeing your child for the first time, a feeling like being in love for the first time, undeniable joy. She fidgeted in her seat with anticipation.

"She's beautiful isn't she." Lizzy glanced at Chief Reynards. From all that she'd learnt about him in a short time she'd presumed he was a man who kept his emotions tightly reined, as close to a Vulcan as a human could achieve. But he was smiling, eyes lighting up like a excited boy.

Turning back to the Enterprise she could utterly understand why, and without thinking she breathed. "Yes, she is."

~oOo~

**So this was a little bit of a filler chapter near the end but I needed to try and get across the tension between dear Leonard and Lizzy (I hope I managed it!). I also wanted to try get across how I felt when I first saw the Enterprise, now I'm not a mother and I don't want to be but I'd assume for an engineer (being as close as I can be being a physicist) seeing her would be very similar. So anyways, tell me what you think it helps boost my moral ;) Also the next chapter will probably be a while as I have University exams in the next two weeks...ahhhh the horror. Well hoped you enjoyed it!**

**Charlotte **


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